An accurate set of H$_3$O$^+ -$ H$_2$ collisional rate coefficients for non-LTE modelling of warm interstellar clouds

Abstract

Hydronium (H$_3$O$^+$) was first detected in 1986 in interstellar molecular clouds. It was reported in many galactic diffuse and dense regions, as well as in extragalactic sources. H$_3$O$^+$ plays a major role both in interstellar oxygen and water chemistry. However, despite the large number of H$_3$O$^+$ observations, its collisional excitation was investigated only partially. In the present work we study the state-to-state rotational de-excitation of $ortho$- and $para$-H$_3$O$^+$ in collisions both with $ortho$- and $para$-H$_2$. The cross sections are calculated within the close-coupling formalism using a highly accurate potential energy surface developed for this system. The rate coefficients are computed up to $300$ K kinetic temperature. Transitions between the lowest 21 rotation-inversion states were studied for $para$-H$_3$O$^+$, and the lowest 11 states for $ortho$-H$_3$O$^+$, i.e. all levels with rotational energies below 430 K ($\sim 300$ cm$^{-1}$) are considered (up to $j\leq5$). In order to estimate the impact of the new rate coefficients on the astrophysical models for H$_3$O$^+$, radiative transfer calculations were also carried out. We have examined how the new collisional data affect the line intensities with respect to older data previously used for the interpretation of observations. By analysing all detected transitions we find that our new, accurate rate coefficients have a significant impact (typically within a factor of 2) on radiation temperatures, allowing more accurate estimation of column densities and relative abundances of hydronium, especially in warm molecular clouds, paving the path towards better interpretation of interstellar water and oxygen chemistry.